The Duffel Blog
, frequently described as a military version of The Onion, takes a similar satirical approach to reporting on everyday life in the weird and wonderful world of the US Military. It was founded in March of 2012 by Marine veteran Paul Szoldra, and has also expanded into "radio" and video, in the form of humorous clips of soldiers in their natural habitat taken from the internet.
Much like its civilian counterpart, people have mistaken The Duffel Blog for a legitimate news source, generating much hilarity in the comments section of each article. Unfortunately, this occasionally extends to legitimate news media organizations as well.
The Duffel Blog also runs satirical advice columns written by cast of colorful characters like Top the Non-Friendly Neighborhood First Sergeant, a wise, crusty old relic of the older and less politically correct military; the Barracks Lawyer, who dispenses his own unique brand of legal advice; and the Public Affairs Officer, who gives canned responses to just about everything.
Tropes Identified and Parodied, Silence From Pentagon:
- Armed Farces: Of course!
- Bears Are Bad News: "Grizzly Bear Wanders Into Unlocked Recruiting Office, Joins Navy"
- Black Comedy: And how!
- Blasphemous Boast: "Opinion: Hey, can you stop comparing me to American soldiers?" has Jesus be getting tired of them.
- Continuity Nod: Many articles reference and build upon previous articles. Sometimes the only connection is the topic, with the writers of the later piece seemingly unaware of the previous one.
- Crippling Overspecialization: "Sailor Runs World Record 1.5 Mile, Fails Pushup Portion of Fitness Test"
- Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: Averted — "Amputee Finds Robotic Leg Just As Cool As He Thought It Would Be"
- Deadly Training Area: "Pentagon Announces Pre-Deployment Training To Take Place In Detroit And Chicago"
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: Turned upside down with "Self-described ‘sheep dog’ actually more of an asshole than anything else". The nasty part comes when he is off the training field.
- Enhanced Interrogation Techniques: "US Denies Prisoner Torture, Allegations Of Forced Listening To Justin Bieber, Rebecca Black"
- Even the Rats Won't Touch It: "New MRE literally just bag of shit", Marines still prefer it to the Veggie Omelet MRE.
- Face–Heel Turn: "Afghan Army Soldier Attacks US Troops, Fails Miserably"
- Forever War: More than a few examples, over the course of several years:
- "Afghanistan: A Look Back On America’s Longest War (January 2015)"
- "War in Afghanistan turns 16, earns driver’s license (October 2017)"
- "Wow! This man was born on 9/11 and gets to fight in the same war it inspired (September 2018)"
- "Now 17, Afghan War still pissed it never had quinceañera (October 2018)
- "Afghanistan: A Look Back On America’s Longest War (January 2015)
- Fun with Acronyms: "DoD Unveils New Troop Leading Steps For Military, ‘RIMJOBS’ To Streamline Mission Planning"
- Have I Mentioned I Am Gay?: "Nobody Asks, Soldier Still Tells About His New Boyfriend"
- Human Sacrifice: "Navy Chief Indoctrination Culminates In Human Sacrifice"
- Interservice Rivalry: "Tired Of Chair Force Nickname, Air Force Colonel Bans Chairs"
- Irony: "Bitter Irony For Coast Guard, Seaman Apprentice Arrested For Piracy"
- Just Here for Godzilla: In-Universe, "Veteran Company Debuts Line Of Pro-3rd Amendment T-Shirts", lampooning the tendency of servicemembers to vocally defend the 1st and 2nd Amendments but ignore other aspects of the Constitution.
- List of Transgressions: “Commander Relieved for Violating Entire UCMJ.” The Department of Defense has been rocked by the firing and court-martial of a high-ranking Marine officer for allegedly violating every single article of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).
- Memetic Badass: General James Mattis of the Marine Corps is shaping up to be one In-Universe.
- Mood Whiplash: On occasion, an article will start out farcical before taking a hard right turn into more serious emotional fare, most commonly in the Opinion pieces.
- Never My Fault: "Corps’ Lone Thief Apprehended; Marines Rejoice, Burn Missing Gear Statements"
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: Subverted — "Navy Acidentally Appoints Career Counselor Who Helps Sailors Advance Their Careers"
- Poe's Law: The reason so many of the articles can be mistakenly accepted at face value is because the military lifestyle in Real Life can occasionally be patently absurd.
- Reality Is Unrealistic: When seemingly absurd military news breaks in Real Life, the Duffel Blog's twitter feed will post a link with the comment "Should have been Duffel Blog".
- Ridiculously Human Robots: "Air Force MQ-9 Reaper Diagnosed With PTSD, Refuses To Fly"
- Ripped from the Headlines: They regularly post articles poking fun at current news stories involving the US military, such as unhelpful advice from the Coast Guard to its personnel about how to cope with not being paid during a government shutdown.
- Running Gag: Jokes about PT belts, abhorred by troops due to be being forced to wear them like children out at Halloween.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: "Navy Worried Sailors Quitting 'Faster Than They Can Be Fired'"
- Serial Escalation: "Psychological Operations Debuts New 'Longest Tab'"
- Shout-Out: "USSOUTHCOM Reports Unexplained Murders in South American Jungle"
- Space Marine: "Space Marine: Oh, You Think My Job Is Cool? Try Police Calling In Zero Gravity
- Stop Being Stereotypical: "Atheist Lieutenant Annoys Entire Platoon Into Christianity"
- Throwing Out the Script: "General’s Controversial Graduation Speech Sparks Riots, 11 Killed"
- Tokyo Rose: "Vietnam Veterans Outraged Over Navy Christening Of USS Jane Fonda"
- Unfortunate Implications: In-Universe — "African-American Skipper Makes History, Takes Command of USS Nathan Bedford Forrest"
- You Go, Girl!: "Women’s Rights Activist Demands ‘Camouflage Ceiling’ Brought Down, More Females Killed In Combat"
